Review - - Passions in Death

Passions in Death

by J.D. Robb

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: September 3, 2024

Reviewed by Nancy 

 

On a hot August night, Lt. Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, speed through the streets of Manhattan to the Down and Dirty club, where a joyful, boisterous pre-wedding girls’ night out has turned into a murder scene. One of the brides lies in a pool of blood, garroted in a private room where she was preparing a surprise for her fiancée—two scrimped and saved-for tickets to Hawaii.
Despite the dozens of people present, useful witnesses are hard to come by. It all brings back some bad memories for Eve who once suffered an assault in the very same room—but she’d been able to fight back and survive. She’d gotten justice. And now she needs to provide some for poor young Erin.
Eve knows that the level of violence and the apparent premeditation involved suggest a volatile mix of hidden, heated passion and ice-cold calculation. This is a crime that can be countered only by hard detective work and relentless dedication—and Eve will not stop until she finds the killer who destroyed this couple’s dreams before the honeymoon even began…

 

Nancy’s Thoughts: 

Passions in Death delivers the tightly plotted murder mystery and engaging characters readers have come to expect from J.D. Robb’s series. This story is different, though, in that it also examines the different facets of friendship, healthy and not so. 

When Eve enters the crime scene, she finds Erin Albright’s body and a satchel containing items she later learns were part of an intended surprise for the other bride, Shauna Hunnicutt. Erin had intended to fulfill her fiancée’s longtime dream of a trip to Hawaii by giving it to her as a honeymoon. 

Since Erin couldn’t bring the satchel in without ruining her surprise, someone she trusted must’ve done so. Everyone in Erin’s friend group and Shauna’s denies having known about it. Someone must be lying. But who? And why? 

As Eve, Roarke, and the detectives of the NYPSD dig into the case, they find that everything among these groups of friends was not as it seemed. There were undercurrents of various feelings other than friendship, some of them not healthy. Whether the unhealthy ones were strong enough to spur a murder, though, Eve and her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, can’t easily determine. The quest to do so carries the reader through the book. 

In addition to Roarke and Peabody, the supporting cast includes, among others, Eve’s friend Mavis and her family, Leonardo and Bella, and Electronics division Det. Ian McNab. The last several books have had a plot thread running through them about Peabody and McNab remodeling an old house with Mavis and Leonardo. Peabody and McNab will live in one side, also providing security, while Mavis and her family, including an expected baby, will have the other side. The remodeling project now is nearly done. This thread provides a lighter, happier note that contrasts with both the grim investigation and the troubling undercurrents among Erin and Shauna’s friends. 

Eve and Peabody narrow their suspect list before the end of the book. My only quibble with the story is that I (who never figure out whodunnit) was pretty sure which one was the killer for reasons I think will also point them out for regular readers of the series. 

Despite my quibble, the story is engrossing, and the characters deliver their usual strong, steady performances. One of the things I like about this series is that Eve, Peabody, Roarke, and company not only pursue justice with iron resolution but also have empathy toward the victim and toward those wounded by the victim’s loss. 

Highly recommended. 

4.5 stars 

~Nancy

 

 

Review - - Random in Death

Random in Death

by J.D. Robb

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: January 23, 2024

Reviewed by Nancy

Jenna’s parents had finally given in, and there she was, at a New York club with her best friends, watching the legendary band Avenue A, carrying her demo in hopes of slipping it to the guitarist, Jake Kincade. Then, from the stage, Jake catches her eye, and smiles. It’s the best night of her life.
It’s the last night of her life.

Minutes later, Jake’s in the alley getting some fresh air, and the girl from the dance floor comes stumbling out, sick and confused and deathly pale. He tries to help, but it’s no use. He doesn’t know that someone in the crowd has jabbed her with a needle—and when his girlfriend Nadine arrives, she knows the only thing left to do for the girl is call her friend, Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

After everyone on the scene is interviewed, lab results show a toxic mix of substances in the victim’s body—and for an extra touch of viciousness, the needle was teeming with infectious agents. Dallas searches for a pattern: Had any boys been harassing Jenna? Was she engaging in risky behavior or caught up in something shady? But there are no obvious clues why this levelheaded sixteen-year-old, passionate about her music, would be targeted.

And that worries Dallas. Because if Jenna wasn’t targeted, if she was just the random, unlucky victim of a madman consumed by hatred, there are likely more deaths to come.

Nancy’s Thoughts:

Few series reach fifty-eight books. Most run out of steam well before then, and the last few often seem pale retreads of the earlier ones. I’m happy to report that this is not the case with Random in Death. The plot is tight and twisty, and we learn new things about familiar characters.

As you can see from the blurb, Eve Dallas’s friend Nadine Furst and her lover, Jake Kincaid, play prominent roles in this story. Regular readers have often seen Nadine step to the fore, but this is the first extended look at Jake and at the two of them as a couple. Jake may be astoundingly famous, but he’s a decent guy, the kind fans would hope Nadine would fall for. He and Avenue A offer their help at every step of the investigation. At the end, they offer something priceless, which I won’t spoil, to Jenna’s family. 

The murder appears to be random, with Jenna crossing the killer’s path at the wrong time. But is it? Aware that a random killing is among the hardest to solve, Eve and her team search doggedly for an explanation of why Jenna and why now. Before they find the answers, the killer makes a mistake that gives them a lead.

Many of the elements of the story are standard police procedural components. Where did the murder weapon come from? Who had access to the components? Did the killer know the victims? If not, did they fit a type? What keeps the story in Random in Death fresh is the array of characters. Robb gives each victim a family different from the others, uniting them grief or anger for their daughters.

Along the way, other familiar characters play their roles. We learn what Jamie Lingstrom is doing. He’s a tech genius who wants, much to Roarke’s frustration, to become a cop rather than work in the much more lucrative private sector for Roarke or someone like him. Jamie teams up with Quilla, a clever, independent teenager who first appears in Concealed in Death. They play an important role in the investigation.

There are also updates on the joint building project of Peabody and McNabb and on Mavis and her family. Dr. Louise DiMatto and former licensed companion Charles Monroe contribute to the hunt, as do Dr. Charlotte Mira, Eve’s homicide cops, and the forensics team at Cop Central. We see these characters frequently, the scenes with Nadine and Jake offer a new, interesting element. Nadine has had relationships before, but this one seems different. And, of course, there’s Roarke, who has evolved in the series into Eve’s very effective partner in crimefighting as well as in life. Overall, though, I think the continuing appeal of this series is Robb’s ability to keep the plot fresh without letting it get scattered and to add a bit here and there to the characters readers already know and like.

Random in Death can stand alone, but readers who start with this book will miss Eve’s evolution from a loner to someone with an extensive found family and the gradual growth of her relationship with Roarke that eventually forged them into a unit. Given the tight plot, great pace, and beautiful character bits, I rate this book as five stars, highly recommended.

~Nancy

Review - - How to Best a Marquess

How to Best a Marquess

by Janna MacGregor

The Widow Rules - Book 3

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

Beth Howell needs to find her dowry, post haste. After her good-for-nothing first husband married her—and two other women, unbeknownst to them all—she’s left financially ruined and relegated to living with her brother, who cares more for his horses than he does his blood relatives. If Beth fails to acquire her funds, her brother will force her to marry someone fifty years her senior and missing half his teeth. She’d prefer to avoid that dreadful fate. But her now-deceased husband, Meri, absconded with her money mere days after their illegitimate marriage. To find it, Beth will have to leave town and retrace Meri’s steps if she’s to take her future into her own hands.

Julian Raleah, Marquess of Grayson, cares not a whit for social norms and generally growls at anyone in his path. Grayson has had a heart of stone ever since his engagement to Beth Howell went down in flames—long before she married that cad, Meri, and sealed her own fate for good. But now she’s on his doorstep, asking for use of his carriage and accompaniment on the hunt to find her lost dowry. Surely Grayson cannot go on the road with the woman who has occupied his thoughts for the past decade. Yet, knowing she needs him, how can he resist helping her this one last time? And maybe that’s just enough time to change the ending to their over-too-soon love story.

PJ's Thoughts:

How to Best a Marquess brings to a conclusion MacGregor's trilogy about three women who, following his death, discover they were all married to the same man. Of course, only one of those marriages was legal. I've enjoyed getting to know these women and following each of their journeys to love. 

This final book is a second-chance, road romance between third wife, Beth and the man who captured, then broke, her young heart years earlier, before her disastrous non-marriage to Meri. I love a second-chance romance trope, especially in a case like Beth and Julian where the earlier breakup was engineered by a third party and both Julian and Beth were left heartbroken. I was looking forward to these two finding their way back to one another as they traipsed across the countryside retracing the steps of Beth's late "husband" in an attempt to discover what happened to her dowry. Some of their experiences were humorous, and some poignant, while others presented complications and a bit of danger. All of them kept me curious as to what would happen next. 

The evolution of the romantic relationship between Beth and Julian was a slow, steamy burn that took a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride. My heart ached for the sheer yearning Julian felt for his Beth, a woman who had held his heart for so long. I was cheering him on from the start. Beth is a complicated swirl of hot and cold, acting much like a cornered porcupine - and many would say with good reason. She's blunt, opinionated, and has a boatload of built-up anger and bitterness to process before she reaches a point where she's able to accept that she deserves the love she craves. She definitely has the more complex growth arc. 

Two secondary characters were a highlight for me, threatening to steal every scene they were in: Cillian, Julian's less-than-proper Irish butler and the outrageous Duke of Pelham, who I was delighted to read will be featured in MacGregor's next series. I'm looking forward to it. 

Review - - A Duke in Time

A Duke in Time

by Janna MacGregor

The Widow Rules - Book 1

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: June 29, 2021

Reviewed by PJ

 

Katherine Vareck is in for the shock of her life when she learns upon her husband Meri's accidental death that he had married two other women. Her entire business, along with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a royal supplier, is everything she's been working for and now could be destroyed if word leaks about the three wives.

Meri's far more upstanding brother, Christian, Duke of Randford has no earthly clue how to be of assistance. He spent the better part of his adult years avoiding Meri and the rest of his good-for-nothing family, so to be dragged back into the fold is…problematic. Even more so is the intrepid and beautiful Katherine, whom he cannot be falling for because she's Meri's widow. Or can he?

With a textile business to run and a strong friendship forming with Meri's two other wives, Katherine doesn't have time for much else. But there's something about the warm, but compellingly taciturn Christian that draws her to him. When an opportunity to partner in a business venture brings them even closer, they'll have to face their pasts if they want to share each other's hearts and futures.

PJ's Thoughts:

A Duke in Time launches Janna MacGregor's new series and sets the stage for what looks to be a very entertaining group of books. The premise is intriguing, with a group of main characters I'm looking forward to learning more about, and a bit of a mystery that looks to play out over the course of the series. I'm eager to discover what out-of-left-field bequests from the deceased "trigamist" show up next!

What drives this story are the characters and, I have to say, they're some of the most likeable I've met in some time. Christian and Kat are good, honorable, caring people who I was pulling for from start to finish. I enjoyed Kat's determination to earn her own keep, her clever innovations, and her willingness to help those in need. In light of that innate goodness, it wasn't a stretch to believe she would step forward to help Constance and Beth but what I really enjoyed was the sisterhood ultimately formed by this trio of women who were all betrayed by the same man.  

I appreciated Christian's support of Kat, how they worked together, how he listened to her ideas, and his determination to help those less fortunate, especially the soldiers who came home to nothing. I enjoyed their flirtations, their chemistry, and their foundation of friendship that deepened into love. 

The supporting cast of characters were all vividly depicted, bringing additional depth, humor, and conflict to the story. I'm already looking forward to seeing more of some of them in the next book.

There were a few issues that kept this from being a 5-star read for me but, overall, it was a well-crafted, heart-tugging story that kept me turning pages, cheering for the (good) characters, taking satisfaction in the consequences suffered by villain, happy with the culmination of Kat and Christian's journey, and eager for the next two books. If you enjoy historical romance, give this one a try. 

Review - - Legacy

Legacy

by Nora Roberts

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: May 25, 2021

Reviewed by Nancy

Adrian Rizzo was seven when she met her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her—before her mother, Lina, stepped in.

Soon after, Adrian was dropped off at her grandparents’ house in Maryland, where she spent a long summer drinking lemonade, playing with dogs, making a new best friend—and developing the stirrings of a crush on her friend’s ten-year-old brother. Lina, meanwhile, traveled the country promoting her fitness brand and turning it into a billion-dollar business. There was no point in dwelling on the past.

A decade later, Adrian has created her own line of yoga and workout videos, following in Lina’s footsteps but intent on maintaining creative control. And she’s just as cool-headed and ambitious as her mother. They aren’t close, but they’re cordial—as long as neither crosses the other.

But while Lina dismisses the death threats that Adrian starts getting as a routine part of her daughter’s growing celebrity, Adrian can’t help but find the vicious rhymes unsettling. Year after year, they keep arriving—the postmarks changing, but the menacing tone the same. They continue after she returns to Maryland and becomes reacquainted with Raylan, her childhood crush, all grown up and as gorgeously green-eyed as ever. Sometimes it even seems like the terrifying messages are indeed routine, like nothing will come of them. Until the murders start, and the escalation begins…

Nancy says:

I enjoyed Nora Roberts’s latest release, Legacy, immensely, so let’s get that out of the way first. However, readers who expect something like Whiskey Beach or Come Sundown, which are based around suspense plots but focus heavily on romantic development, won’t find that here. Legacy continues the pattern Roberts began with Shelter in Place in 2018. Her most recent standalone novels aren’t structured as romances or romantic suspense stories. Instead, they follow the characters through long periods of their lives as they learn who they are and forge their paths. Shelter in Place, Under Currents, Hideaway, and now Legacy are more in the vein of women’s fiction with suspense and romantic elements built in. 

We meet the heroine, Adrian Rizzo, when she’s seven. Her father, who had an affair with her mother, Lina Rizzo, when she was in college, has had no part in Lina’s or Adrian’s life since Lina told him she was pregnant. Now, however, the news of their affair and Adrian’s birth has come out. He’s enraged and comes to Lina’s home in Georgetown for revenge. Because I don’t want to spoil it, I’ll just say this doesn’t go well for him. 

Roberts introduces the supporting cast slowly and gives us the chance to get to know them. This starts after the clash with Adrian’s father. To protect Adrian from the resulting publicity, Lina takes her daughter to her parents in Maryland. There Adrian meets Maya and Raylan Wells, who’ll be part of her life going forward. Raylan is a comic book geek and an artist with a good bit of skill despite being in grade school, and that seeds his character’s future. This interval also establishes the importance of Adrian’s grandparents in her life and her love for their big, old house. 

We next meet Adrian when she’s sixteen. Lina has a successful video fitness company and travels a lot for promotion. She’s about to leave on another trip, but Adrian, who’s tired of being hauled from pillar to post and just started a new school, refuses to go. She talks her mother into letting her stay home. What she doesn’t tell Lina is that she has plans to start building a life of her own while she has this time to herself. 

When she goes to school the next day, she recruits the crew she hopes will help her build that life, the table of nerds in the cafeteria. They play supporting roles through the book, particularly Teesha, who remembers all sorts of obscure facts and has a head for math. Her son Phineas, who arrives much later in the book, is one of my favorite-ever Roberts characters. 

From this point, with a little help from her mom’s team, Adrian launches a successful business of her own. Success is great, but sometimes it draws attention you don’t want. Shortly after the release of her first video, Adrian receives the first of a series of threatening poems. She turns them over to her mom’s publicity manager and the FBI and goes on with her life, but the poems arrive at regular intervals through the book. 

Roberts shows us Adrian and her friends at different points in their adult lives. Raylan and Maya both marry and have families. Raylan works in comics and eventually launches his own graphic novel company. Teesha and the rest of Adrian’s high school crew build their life paths. Aside from the threatening letters, things are going well until losses bring both Adrian and Raylan back to Maryland. 

The two pick up their friendship easily. I like the way Roberts handles that. Adrian was friendly with Raylan’s late wife, so she understands and sympathizes with his loss. His grief and his children’s are not given short shrift. His and Adrian’s transition from friends to much more occurs slowly and believably. They don’t become involved until a couple of years after they both return to Maryland. 

There’s no deep romantic angst between Raylan and Adrian. Its absence works well for me since there’s plenty of other angst to go around in the book. 

Meanwhile, Adrian’s friend and business manager, Teesha, has moved to Maryland with her family, including adorable geek child Phineas. All the children in this book are great. Raylan’s son, Bradley, is a Batman fiend. His daughter, Mariah, is a fashionista at six. Roberts knows how far to go with cuteness before it stops being endearing and becomes tiresome. 

There’s also a sweet relationship between Adrian’s dog, Sadie, and the Wells family’s dog, Jasper. When it turns out to have more than entertainment value, the turn it takes has been nicely seeded. 

One of the pleasures of the story was seeing Adrian build a relationship with her friends’ children, including Raylan’s. When the time comes for Raylan to talk to Bradley about his changing relationship with Adrian, Roberts handles that with sensitivity and grace. 

As Raylan and Adrian’s relationship deepens, however, the sender of the threatening poems is escalating. Matters come to a head in a terrific sequence with Adrian taking on the one who wants to kill her. Raylan and Teesha’s husband, Monroe, rush to her aid. But will they be in time? 

Though the plot spans a long period the moments it showcases are important to the progression of the story and the development of the characters, who were the real pleasure of Legacy for me. A superb plot helps drive any book, but engaging characters we can root for, as we do for these, are the heart of it. 

A St. Martin's Press Winter Event

 

The winter season is upon us and St. Martin's Press and Forever are spreading cheer with a virtual event featuring the four fabulous romance authors shown above.

Join the fun on Wednesday, December 9, at 6:00 PM EST via Crowdcast to help Lily Menon, Nancy Naigle, L. Penelope, and Farrah Rochon write a short romance story LIVE! You’ll have the opportunity to vote on plot twists and character names before and during the event.

Register for the event and vote in the first poll here: https://bit.ly/SMPRWEA

Follow SMP Romance and Forever and get to know Lily, Nancy, L. Penelope, and Farrah at their links below.

SMP Romance: @smpromance (IG/Twitter/FB)

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Lily Menon: @sandhyamenonbooks (IG), @smenonbooks (Twitter), @lilymenonwrites (FB)

Nancy Naigle: @nancynaigle (IG/Twitter), @nancynaigleauthor (FB)

L. Penelope: @leslyepenelope (IG/Twitter), @authorlpenelope (FB)

Farrah Rochon: @farrahrochon (IG/Twitter), @farrahrochonauthor (FB)

Blog Tour Review - - TUCKER

TUCKER
by Emily March
The McBrides of Texas - Book 2
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: February 25, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
  

Hope springs eternal in this enchanting Texas town.

Meet Gillian Thacker. Her business: Bliss Bridal Salon. Her passion: Weddings. Her own wedding: It’s complicated. Life isn’t turning out like she’d planned. The last thing she wants is for a real-life hero to ride to her rescue when an unexpected event puts her entire future in Redemption, Texas, at risk. So what’s a broken-hearted bridal expert to do? Maybe a new set of survival skills is exactly what she needs…

Tucker McBride has been proud to call himself a U.S. Army Ranger. But now that his days of service are over, he’s decided to put his expertise to use by founding a wilderness skills training school. He sets up shop in Redemption, next to Bliss Bridal, and so begins life: Part Two. Marriage has been pretty low on his agenda, but as soon as he meets Gillian, Tucker can’t help but contemplate the ultimate challenge: Convincing the reluctant bride to take his hand and leap into the adventure of a lifetime. . .until death do they part.

PJ's Thoughts:

I'm really enjoying the new community of characters March has brought to her Eternity Springs series through this connected - but standalone - trilogy. I fell in love with her McBride family before she created Eternity Springs so it's been fun to follow second generation McBride cousins Jackson and Tucker (and next up, Boone) as they navigate the trials of starting over and finding love in Enchanted Canyon. 

I fell hard for Tucker. He's such a good guy: sexy, honorable, and caring. He's a bit lost when he arrives in Redemption, having retired from the Army and not sure what he wants to do with the rest of his life. March does a good job of showing his evolution. I love how much he cares for his family. His relationship with Jackson's young daughter is especially poignant. I also love how well he knows Gillian, often better than she knows herself. 

Gillian took longer to warm up to. She runs a successful business but personally, she's a mess. For almost half the book she's engaged to someone else and when that ends (he's a cheating jerk), it sends her self-confidence and trust in her own decisions into a spiral. I understood her caution with Tucker (their romantic relationship doesn't begin until after her engagement ends) but I grew frustrated with how she treats him and his feelings for her. She comes around in the end but I wanted more evidence of her investment in their relationship. I'm hoping to see that in the final book of the trilogy.

March infused the story with plenty of good humor and heart-tugging emotion to keep me engaged and gives readers a peek into Boone's dilemma that has me eagerly anticipating his story in the next chapter of the McBrides of Texas. 

You don't have to have read the Eternity Springs books - or the earlier McBride books - to enjoy TUCKER. I do, however, recommend reading JACKSON first for a better understanding of characters from JACKSON whose stories continue in TUCKER. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily March is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels, including the critically acclaimed Eternity Springs series. Publishers Weekly calls March a "master of delightful banter," and her heartwarming, emotionally charged stories have been named to Best of the Year lists by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Romance Writers of America.

A graduate of Texas A&M University, Emily is an avid fan of Aggie sports and her recipe for jalapeño relish has made her a tailgating legend.

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Tour Review - - JACKSON

JACKSON
by Emily March
Eternity Springs: The McBrides of Texas - Book 1
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: June 25, 2019
Reviewed by PJ
 

Sometimes it takes a new beginning

Caroline Carruthers thinks she buried her dreams along with the love of her life…until a stranger named Celeste dares her to chase a dream all on her own. Moving to Redemption, Texas, is chapter one in Caroline's new life story. Opening a bookstore is the next. Finding love is the last thing on her mind as she settles into this new place called home. But when she meets a handsome, soulful man who’s also starting over, all bets are off. 

to reach a happily-ever-after

Jackson McBride came to Redemption looking only to find himself, not someone to love. Ever since his marriage ended, he's been bitter. Sure, he used to believe in love - he even has the old song lyrics to prove it - but the Jackson of today is all business. That is, until a beautiful young widow who's moved to town inspires a change of heart. Could it be that the myth of Redemption's healing magic is true...and Jackson and Caroline can find a second chance at a happy ending after all? 

My thoughts:

I've been a fan of Emily March's Eternity Springs series since book one. The characteristics that have sent those books straight to my keeper shelf - complex, endearing characters, heart-tugging story lines, redemption, healing, starting over, and happy-ever-afters - are all on display in this first book of March's new spin-off series, along with a fair amount of humor. Moving from Colorado to the Texas Hill Country, this new series brings readers the stories of three McBride cousins: Jackson, Tucker, and Boone. 

March tells this first book in two parts with part one recounting Jackson and Caroline's first meeting as well as the events that lead each of them to move to Redemption. My heart ached for Jackson from the get-go. He's reeling from a heartbreaking child custody decision when we first meet him, is still bitter about his divorce, and has lost the desire to create the music he used to write. For some reason, Caroline, a stranger he bumps into, has lyrics floating through his mind again. Caroline, in Redemption to write a travel article, enjoys talking to Jackson and touring the property he and his cousins plan to turn into an inn, restaurant, and dance hall. They "click" but not in an overtly sexual way. Caroline is married and very much in love with her husband, even though he has Alzheimer's and no longer knows her and Jackson is an honorable man who would never make a play for a married woman, even if he hadn't already sworn off women since his divorce.

The relationship between Caroline and Jackson begins in Part Two which takes place a year after their first meeting and many months after the death of Caroline's husband. I appreciate the time March gives Caroline before bringing her back to Redemption and into Jackson's sphere. As someone who has walked her path, I found her emotions to be very realistic as she begins the next chapter of her life. I also like that her late husband isn't cast aside as if he never existed. Their years together are very much a part of her as the years Jackson was married and his child are an integral part of him. They all weave together to create the individuals Caroline and Jackson now are and the relationship they create together. March uses care and sensitivity as she slowly guides them from acquaintances, to friends, to lovers, to two people embarking upon a life together. I really liked these two, both individually and as a couple, and quickly became invested in their happiness.

As a fan of Eternity Springs, I was delighted with the appearances of cross-over characters in this novel. It's especially fun to watch unflappable Celeste get her feathers ruffled while dealing with her more free-spirited cousin, Angelica. If you haven't read any of the Eternity Springs books, you might find yourself with a little character confusion when many of the Colorado residents converge on Redemption, Texas for the inn's soft opening but, aside from that chapter, this novel stands very well on its own with the vast majority of the characters new to March's fictional world. I enjoyed meeting all of them in JACKSON (even the ones who caused waves) and am already looking forward to the next chapter in Emily March's McBrides of Texas series. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Have you read any of the Eternity Springs books?

Do you enjoy stories about characters starting over?

Caroline's next chapter occupation is opening an independent bookstore. What would you choose to do if you had the opportunity to start a new chapter?

One person who leaves a comment before 11:00 PM, June 21, will receive a print copy of JACKSON. (U.S. only)

Review - - Shelter in Place

Shelter in Place

By Nora Roberts

Publisher: St. Martins

Release Date: May 29, 2018

Reviewed by Nancy Northcott

Shelter in Place, a standalone novel, follows a format unusual for Nora Roberts’ works in that it spans a period of 14 years.  The book opens with a horrible event, a mass shooting at a mall. Teenager Simone Knox is at a movie in the mall theater with friends. Through a combination of circumstances, she survives the shooting. So does Reed Quartermaine, a college student working as a waiter at a mall restaurant.

Simone and Reed are the primary characters in the novel, but each of them has friends and/or family members who were at the mall on the fateful night. Roberts deftly examines the psychological aftereffects on others who survived the event and on those who love them. While Reed and Simone are the story’s romantic leads, they don’t actually meet until well into the book. Along the way, each finds a calling and a way to deal with the events of that fateful night. The effects of the experience on their relationships with those around them also influence the story.

Simone is closest to her grandmother, artist CiCi Lennon, who’s “a little bit psychic.” She also has a friend and family members who are fellow survivors.  The family dynamics don’t go smoothly, in part because of Simone’s and her sister’s differing reactions to the event as well as their different lifestyles and tastes.

Reed also has a family, but his relationship with one of the police officers who responded to the 911 calls during the shooting plays a more prominent role in the story. She becomes a mentor to him and helps him find his path in life.

Gradually, Simone’s and Reed’s paths bring them together.  The roads they travel and the factors that influence them along the way are skillfully developed, and it seems better to be somewhat vague about the particulars here than to risk spoiling them. Roberts doesn’t take us through every month of the 14 years the story covers but looks in on the characters at couple of different points during that period.

As Reed and Simone build their lives, they’re unaware that someone isn’t happy that they and so many others survived.  Patricia Hobart, sister of one of the three shooters at the mall, sets out to finish the job she sees as bungled by her brother and his friends.  Reed begins to suspect that someone is targeting survivors, but not everyone in law enforcement is prepared to support this theory.  He has to fight for it, and that fight is part of what leads his path across Simone’s.

The last part of the book takes place on an island off the Maine coast that’s accessible only by boat.  It has some echoes of two of Roberts’ prior books, Northern Lights and The Search.  Considering the number of books she has written, it’s not surprising that there would be occasional similarities.  These aspects of the story are similar but definitely not the same. The situations are structured differently.

This story is emotionally wrenching at times, and Simone and Reed are both engaging, sympathetic characters.  (Reed gets extra points for the rescue of a stray mutt.) Those around them are largely sympathetic, but not always.  The conflict between Simone and her sister, for example, is persistent and not easily resolved. Not until that resolution does her sister reveal motives that are understandable. Roberts handles the characters’ emotional issues skillfully and without going for pat solutions anywhere.